Faster care hasn't reduced heart attack deaths, study shows

Patients must spot symptoms more quickly, co-author says

11:44 PM,
Sep. 5, 2013

Written by

Liz Szabo
| USA Today

Although hospitals have sharply reduced the time it takes to get heart attack patients into treatment, they aren't saving any more lives, according to a study whose results have surprised even some of the country's leading cardiovascular experts.

Timely heart attack treatment has become a key measure of hospital quality, and Medicare now bases some of its payments on how well hospitals do in this area.

Hospitals shaved 16 minutes off the time it takes to get heart attack patients into treatment from 2005-06 to 2008-09, reducing that time from 83 minutes to 67 minutes, according to a story in ...